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Gary Switzer
Gary R. Switzer is a Dungeons & Dragons player credited by Gary Gygax as creating the concept of the thief character class. History Gaming history Switzer played at the store Aero Hobbies in Santa Monica, California.Gygax's "The Thief Addition" (1974), Playing at the World, 2012. Switzer was an early adopter of Dungeons & Dragons, having played the original D&D box set in 1974. By May 15, 1975, he was a veteran D&D player.Playing at the World (2012), by Jon Peterson. Appendix 746. He appears to have played in the Aurania campaign at the Aero Hobbies shop.Playing at the World (2012), by Jon Peterson. Chapter 5.9.2, License to Compete. Invention of the thief Following the release of Dungeons & Dragons in 1974, Switzer called D&D creator Gary Gygax on the phone. Switzer described a new character class being developed by his D&D group, thieves. Following Switzer's description, Gygax created a prototype set of rules for this new thief character class. Based on surviving sources, Switzer's phonecall with Gygax likely took place in approximately April 1974. The Acaceum suggests that while D&D was first printed in January 1974, it was unlikely to have been widely available until the third quarter of 1974.Original D&D Set, The Acaceum. In May 1974, Gygax's thief rules were published in a fanzine known as Great Plains Games Players Newsletter, issue #9, which contained a four-page section. The rules consist of two typewritten pages, with a front and back cover styled like the original D&D rulebooks, titled The Thief Addition. The issue had a circulation of only 25 copies, and a letter from Gygax in the issue dates his submission to May 10, 1974. James Lurvey, editor of the newsletter, also offered reprint copies of the thief pullout for 20 cents.Playing at the World (2012), by Jon Peterson. Chapter 5.2, Selling the Story. This was the first appearance of the thief class in print. Gygax incorrectly spelled Switzer's name as Schweitzer. D&D historian Jon Peterson attributes this to Gygax only hearing the name over the phone, and believes it almost certainly refers to Gary Switzer of Aero Hobbies. Copies of the fanzine were sold at TSR's booth at Gen Con VII, which took place from August 23-25, 1974. The class would later appear in TSR's first D&D add-on, . Later works In the newsletter APA-L, issue #522, dated May 15, 1975, Switzer submitted a system for "critical hits" and "tripping" (fumbling). In 1976, Switzer was mentioned in a third-party D&D booklet called The Manual of Aurania, written by players from Aero Hobbies. The book complains that several of the group's original concepts, including character classes, were "stolen outright and soon appeared in print". The group self-published their book without TSR's knowledge, "to prevent this from happening again". D&D historian Jon Peterson speculates that this is referring to Gygax's appropriation of the group's thief class concept. The Manual of Aurania avoided using TSR trademarks and did not mention Dungeons & Dragons on its cover, perhaps to avoid having to pay any license rights to TSR or adhere to any of its licensing terms. It sold for $3, and included such . References Category:Writers